


I Saw You And Death

by Roxinnaxu



Category: Voltron: Legendary Defender
Genre: Gen, Mother-Son Relationship, Near Death Experiences, Season/Series 06, Team Voltron is mentioned, in s4ep6, over Keith's suicide attempt, they bond
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-06-23
Updated: 2018-06-23
Packaged: 2019-05-27 08:58:34
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings, No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,183
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/15021155
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Roxinnaxu/pseuds/Roxinnaxu
Summary: Season 6 episode 2 Spoilers!The bright yellow light pulls Krolia into another memory, and she sees Keith.In a Galra fighter.Ready to ram himself into the particle barrier.Understandably, Krolia panics.OrKrolia sees Keith's almost-sacrifice. Mother-son bonding ensues.





	I Saw You And Death

"It's coming again." 

Krolia stopped building the roof of their little shelter and glanced to the horizon. Sure enough, bright yellow light was once again growing in the distance. Wordlessly she stood and walked next to her son, close but not too close. Together they watched the glow burn brighter and brighter until it was too bright, and they had to close their eyes to be pulled into the new memory. 

When Krolia opened her eyes, she was in a galra fighter. There was nothing unusual in that, she had flown those fighters hundreds of times and was sure Keith had too. In fact, she didn't even know whose memory this was until she saw Keith sitting on the ship's seat. Maybe some mission of the Blade. 

But there was something wrong. Poorly concealed desperation was all over Keith's face and body, sweat forming on his temple, his hands shaking a bit. 

"We'll never penetrate those shields!" 

The voice was a bit distorted and foreign to Krolia. She didn't think about it, though, because Keith had suddenly gone completely calm. Or not really, Krolia didn't know her son very well but she could see nervousness and grief in Keith eyes. But there was also determination, and it scared Krolia more than she was willing to admit. 

"Maybe not with our weapons." 

The meaning of the words dawned on Krolia when Keith sped up. At that moment she forgot everything about the situation they were in, the fact that this was a memory. The logical part of her brain tried to whisper that Keith had to be alive, she knew it, she had talked with Keith, lived with Keith, touched Keith. But Krolia's panic drowned out the logic. She was no longer a Blade, no longer a soldier, she was just mother who had to watch her son sacrifice himself. She didn't even know who Keith was dying for. His friends? The universe? Or just some stupid battle that didn't even matter that much? 

The comm crackled to life again but Krolia didn't hear it over her screaming. She was screaming at Keith to stop, to turn back, even when Keith closed his eyes and welcomed death bitterly. Then, as the moment of dying came closer, the boy's calm washed away and suddenly he looked small and afraid and made Krolia's heart hurt. It wasn't supposed to be like that. Keith wasn't supposed to die in a battle, making a terrifying decision to die so someone else could live. Krolia was dimly aware that she had stopped screaming and moved to gasping air. Keith clenched his teeth. The shield came closer and closer. 

Yellow light blinded Krolia. 

She was back, back on the creature that was taking them to their destination, back with her son who was safe and very much alive. Without wasting a moment Krolia spun around and wrapped her arms tightly around Keith, maybe partly to hide the tears forming in her eyes. She tried to blink them away. 

Then a horrifying thought came into her mind. She pulled back, fighting back the tears. She had to know. 

"That was the past, right?" 

She could hardly hear the desperation in her own voice over the ringing of her ears. Keith didn't answer immediately, and Krolia shook him a bit. 

"Keith. Was that the past?" 

Because she could not accept the fact that it was the future, that her son would go and kill himself for some "greater good." 

Luckily, Keith seemed to snap out of whatever shock he was having. Hastily he reassured Krolia. 

"It was the past. I survived." 

He looked like he wanted to say something more but couldn't find the words. Krolia let go of him and took a few deep breaths. She closed her eyes and tried to regain her composure, silently cursing herself. She could not let her emotions take control like that. 

"Mom?" 

That was a new one. Krolia didn't react outwardly, but she felt her heart pick up rate. Keith continued talking. 

"I tried to save my friends. Zarkon's witch, Haggar, was aboard that ship. Someone had to stop her." 

Of course. Of course Keith would do anything for his friends, because Krolia had seen the memories and heard the stories, she knew how much Keith loved his friends, his little family. She opened her eyes at the tremor in his voice. Keith was standing his back to her, his arms wrapped around himself, and something in the sheer vulnerability of his posture made Krolia's heart break a bit. Keith drew in a shaky breath. 

"I was so scared." 

The words were more of a whisper, but Krolia heard them none the less. Her breathing hitched, and she stepped forward, unsure if she could touch her son or not. Keith seemed to make the choice for her, turning around and hugging Krolia tightly, whole body shaking. Krolia fought back tears again and quietly drew circles in Keith's back, not knowing if Keith could feel them through his uniform. They stayed like that for a while, mother and son. 

"Don't ever do that again." 

The words slipped out of Krolia's mouth before she could stop them. Keith stayed quiet. They both knew that was not a promise he could make. Because as much as it hurt, the universe did not care about the life of a single boy. Keith would sacrifice himself for his friends in a heartbeat, because nothing made his life special, worth saving. It was the horrible, horrible truth. 

Krolia knew she could not shake the picture of Keith desperately slamming himself into a force field for a long, long time. 

After a few quiet moments Keith pulled back and wiped his eyes. Krolia took a step back too and kept her gaze in the ground. The silence continued. 

"I'm going to try and teach Blue a few tricks." 

Keith walked away, going to search for the creature they had found a while back. Krolia liked having a pet. It brought some sense of calm and normality, some glimpse of what they could have been if she had never left Earth. She shook that thought away. If she had never left Earth, they would all be dead by now. 

Besides, Keith had left Earth too and seemed a lot happier in space. From the memories Krolia had seen and the things Keith had told her, it seemed like he had found a new family. Of course their family was shaky and small, but Keith had seemed happy in the memories. He had told Krolia about his half-brother Shiro (who Krolia had actually met on Earth), his friends and kinda-siblings Lance, Pidge and Hunk, the princess Allura and the "weird space uncle" Coran. 

And maybe, when they returned to the team, there was some room for Krolia too. Maybe she could belong to the family his son had made himself a part of. 

Keith had called her mom, after all, and that made Krolia smile. 

She took a few breaths, calmed the shaking of her hands and went back to build the roof.

**Author's Note:**

> I've had this idea for a while now, and finally got some inspiration to write it.  
> Sorry about possible mistakes, I'm not an native English speaker and would appreciate it if you could tell me about the mistakes in the comments so I can go and fix them.  
> That's all! Thank you so much for reading!


End file.
